Minimally invasive surgical procedures, such as laparoscopic or endoscopic procedures, are becoming more and more common. Surgeons today are often able to perform complex procedures using tools inserted through relatively small entry points in the body, often reducing patient scarring and recovery time. These surgical tools often have a very specific function and include, for example, scissors, graspers, dissectors, sealers, suture aids, retractors, clamps and clip appliers. Often an endoscope, which is an instrument that allows visual inspection and magnification of interior portions of the body, is used in conjunction with these various tools to perform a procedure.
The tools and instruments for minimally invasive surgery are often inserted into the body through a cannula or trocar. A hole is made through the body's soft tissue to gain access to a body cavity, for example. The hole may made with an obturator instrument or a trocar having a cutting instrument integrally formed or provided therewith.
End effector assemblies refer to the often interchangeable portions of a surgical instrument that contact and manipulate tissues in a patient. Conventional surgical instruments have a hollow shaft with a solid actuating rod slidably provided therein to actuate one of these end effector assemblies that is typically coupled to the hollow shaft. The rod is usually coupled at a proximal end to an instrument actuation device, such as a handle, that when operated slides the rod through the hollow shaft to actuate the end effector assembly.
A need exists for methods and systems that will provide the capability to easily, quickly and effectively couple or decouple an end effector assembly to the instrument shaft.